


I have been here many times before

by Anonymous



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Gang Rape, Historical Fantasy, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith and Shiro are both adults, Knights - Freeform, M/M, No Smut, Not a totally resolved ending but it's hopeful enough? Sequel possible, Object Insertion, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Slavery, Unbeta'd, in this house we appreciate Lance, non-explicit PTSD, or more like medieval-ish, seriously this has adult themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 09:59:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15794205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: HAVE YOU CHECKED THE TAGS? ALL OF THEM?TAKE CARE, FRIEND.edit: had a readthrough and caught some mistakes.





	I have been here many times before

**Author's Note:**

> **HAVE YOU CHECKED THE TAGS? ALL OF THEM?** TAKE CARE, FRIEND.
> 
> edit: had a readthrough and caught some mistakes.

"I don’t like him,” Lance hisses as they watch Lotor close the door behind him and Allura. Shiro agrees, but as Allura’s loyal servant it is not his place to judge the person she chooses to have personal affairs with. Lotor is a very handsome man of twenty-five years. He is polite, and intelligent. A great talker. But there is just something that Shiro can’t put his finger on that rubs Shiro the wrong way about the man. Of course, Lance’s reasons for disliking Lotor are different ones. Shiro holds out hope his right hand man will get over his crush on the princess soon.

Shiro’s eyes seek out the third person in the room -- Lotor’s bodyguard. The guy goes by Keith, seems to be in his mid-twenties as well and is too slim to look like a threat, the way Shiro does on sight. But Shiro has seen him take out three assassins in the matter of twenty seconds, and ever since has had to fight a fascination that goes beyond the normal admiration one might have for a fellow fighter.

Shiro has made peace with his attraction to men. The last time he acted upon it he was still a boy, sixteen years and wholly overwhelmed with the whole experience. It is still outlawed, though Allura wouldn’t care. He is sure of that. Her royal household, on the other hand, would have him locked away and brainwashed.

Keith holds out Shiro’s open observation for a couple of moments before his eyes slide over to meet his. A shiver runs down Shiro’s spine at the touch of them. Keith’s eyes are dark, always serious. They are fascinating, in a scary way. There is a pain in them that Shiro would like to go looking for. To draw it outside into the open and fight it with his fists and smother it out of existence.

“What,” Keith calls him out when Shiro says nothing. He straightens from his slouch against the wall, the black leather of his jacket smoothing out over his torso and spanning over his now squared shoulders.

“This will take a while,” Shiro says, nodding at the door. He absolutely ignores the sounds coming out of the room. “Lance will stay put. Let’s have a meal and try to coordinate the official visit coming up.”

“I’m not hungry,” Keith says, but he agrees to the rest of the plan.

Shiro sends for James and tells him to join Lance at the door, then leads Keith to the garrison’s rooms. Hunk is cooking and Shiro gestures for Keith to take a seat at the table that some of the garrison guys sitting there conveniently vacate once their captain arrives.

Hunk places a plate in front of both of them and Shiro starts eating. Keith sits, his eyes scouring the room.

“Are you not hungry?” Hunk asks Keith, a bit offended.

“No.”

“It’s not poisoned,” Shiro says.

“Poisoned?” Hunk yells, eyes widening. “It’s from the same pot! I would never!” They both ignore him.

“I’m not hungry,” Keith says. Shiro lets him be, and eats away. It’s, as always, delicious. He uses bread to get the very last bit of it and then his thumb for the last drop. He licks at it, then finally looks up to give Keith back his attention. He doesn’t miss the way Keith’s eyes flick away from where his wet finger leaves his mouth. Interesting.

“So,” Shiro says. “Lord Zarkon and Lady Haggar will arrive on the twentieth. What do I have to expect?”

Keith stares at him. “I’m only Lotor’s bodyguard. I don’t know anything about his lordship’s plans, but I imagine they will come here to get something.”

“Something?”

“Land. Power.” Keith shrugs.

“So you think it’s about making it official between Princess Allura and the prince?”

“Possible.”

“Tell me more.”

“I don’t know any more.”

Shiro waits him out. When nothing further leaves Keith's lips, he says: “My sources tell me you’ve been in their household since you were just a boy. I’m sure you can tell me more than that. What are they like? The Galra.”

Keith blinks, once, twice, three times. He holds himself still in a way that has the hair on Shiro’s arms standing up. Keith swallows and sits up a bit. “Just… don’t underestimate what it means to have them under your roof, your lordship.”

“I’m not a lord,” Shiro says, taken off guard. “I’m--”

“You’re Princess Allura's first knight,” Keith cuts him off.

“I’m the captain of her guard.”

“The both of you are closer than that.”

“We are?”

“You look at each other like friends. Maybe even more.”

“I’m the captain of her guard, and her personal bodyguard. We are close the way a loyal servant and his master is.”

Keith grimaces, disgusted. His next words sound accusing. “So you don’t care who or what she invites into her bed?!”

Shiro leans over the table and watches the way Keith’s shoulders knot up. “Are you warning us?” If Keith knows something about Lotor and his family that could harm Allura, he needs to know.

Keith stands his ground, even as Shiro crowds him further. “Lotor is not the person you think he is.”

“What if I think he’s bad news.”

“Then you are one of very few,” Keith says quietly.

“Keith…” Shiro has never used Keith’s name before.

Keith stands up. “We should go back,” he says and turns on his heel, making his way outside. When Shiro walks back into the room, Keith is in the same place as before, casually leaning against the wall. As if he didn’t have a care in the world. But Shiro sees the way his hands flex against his upper arms, the way his feet are crossed but ready to do their job in a matter of a second. Keith is dangerous, but maybe Lotor is the real danger.

When Lotor and Keith are gone, Allura calls Shiro into her chambers. Her cheeks are still flushed and her eyes are wide and happy. He would hate if Lotor really turned out to be someone other than the man Allura apparently decided to fall in love with.

“Your Majesty,” Shiro greets with a smirk.

“Oh, stop that, Shiro.” Allura rolls her eyes. “What did I miss while… I was occupied?” She can’t quite meet Shiro’s eyes and an orb of fondness bursts inside his chest. He will protect her from harm, what- or whoever it might look like.

“It’s an uneventful day, princess. You missed nothing.”

“Oh, good. Be on your way, then. ”

Shiro bows and makes to leave the room.

“Shiro,” Allura calls just as he reaches the door. He turns back around. “Do you think Lotor would make a good… uhm.”

“Husband?”

Allura’s eyes widen. She is the image of innocence that doesn’t fit together with the sounds he has ignored coming out of her rooms for weeks now. “Co-ruler for Altea,” she clarifies, a bit piqued.

Shiro looks at her. He is hesitant to bring forward his concerns, but Allura always asks for the truth from him. “Tell me,” she says.

“Princess, I… it is always a good idea to… be careful. He is charming, but we know so little about him.”

Allura looks away, throwing her hair over her shoulder with the motion. “Very well.” Shiro takes that for the dismissal it is.

  
The next time he sees Keith, there is a bruise around his neck. It’s dark red and looks painful and Shiro wonders who got close enough to such a capable fighter as Keith to bring it to life. Keith ignores him completely as they walk side by side behind Lotor and Allura.

“The Blades?” Shiro asks later in the day when they have been journeying to Galra, riding alongside each other in silence.

“Where?!” Keith searches the tree line. 

“Not here. I was… I meant.” Shiro looks at his neck.

“Oh. Yeah, sure.”

“‘Yeah, sure’? So convincing.”

“It’s none of your business.”

Keith rides ahead. Shiro heads back to where Lance, James, Hunk and Pidge are flanking the royal waggon.

“Put your foot in your mouth, captain?” Pidge chirps, looking at where Keith rides in front of them, now conversing with the Galra soldiers riding ahead. She grins at Shiro.

“He was in a pissy mood all day,” Lance comments. “Probably because of that nasty bruise.”

“Probably a Marmora's work,” James says. Shiro had thought that too, but it doesn’t fit the fighting style of the Blades.

“Enough,” he says. “Pay attention.” It would be ironic if they were surprised by the Blades as they discussed one of their assassins.

The Galra castle is imposing and the Galra people eye them with suspicion. Shiro wishes he had brought along more of his soldiers, but Allura insisted it be only the five of them. Something about trust.

They are settled into their rooms. As Shiro hands the reigns of his horses to a stable boy, something in the corner of his eye catches his attention. It’s a woman fussing over Keith. Her hands lift to Keith’s neck and Keith intercepts them. He's murmuring. Something reassuring, Shiro imagines. They are too far away for Shiro to hear anything, but in the sunlight he can see her eyes are glistening with tears. She throws her arms around Keith and buries her face in his neck, and Keith hugs her back stiffly, stroking his hand over her head in a gentle way Shiro wasn’t sure Keith would be capable of.

Shiro’s heart gives a stutter when Keith kisses her on the forehead. Of course a man like Keith would have a person. It wasn’t like there was any future between them anyways. It was a ridiculous notion from the very beginning, nothing to even entertain. But still, Shiro can’t help the slight hurt it causes inside of him. He will get over it.

Life at the court of the Galra empire is different from the one in Altea. Something about the people is off, they are rougher than the Alteans and there’s an energy about them that makes Shiro nervous.

There is an official state dinner one evening, where Lotor officially introduces Allura to his court. Allura looks beautiful, the whole room can’t help but stare at her in fascination. Just two pairs of eyes are not on her. Shiro’s, and those of the woman Shiro saw Keith with the day of their arrival. Haunted looking, she searches the room, but just like Shiro’s, her search comes up empty. Keith is not there. It’s remarkable enough, because Lotor has not let him out of his sight for very long.

Keith not being there means something, and a nervous something in Shiro’s stomach says that it means nothing good.

When the dinner is over and people are milling around, Shiro makes his way over to one of the Galra soldiers.

“Where is Kogane?” Shiro asks. The soldier’s eyes slide to the side to look him up and down. He smirks. “Why? You looking to go for a round?”

“A round?” Shiro asks, uncomprehending. “What are you talking about? Why is he not here?”

The soldier turns to him, angling his head a bit as he searches his face. “He is busy elsewhere,” he says finally, a disgusting smile forming on his face. Shiro’s fists clench by his sides.

“Where is he?” he asks again.

“Try the barracks,” the soldier says and turns away, apparently now bored by the conversation.

Shiro’s eyes seek out Allura. He needs to stay close to her, to protect her. Lance appears by his side. “What’s up, Captain?” he asks. Lance is more perceptive than he is given credit for.

“Can I trust you to keep the princess safe in here for a while?”

“It’s my job.”

“Promise me.”

“What is happening?” Hunk joins them.

“The cap wants us to be on princess duty,” Lance answers Hunk. He turns to Shiro. “I will protect her with my life, but you already know that. But tell us what you’re doing.”

“Something's not right,” Shiro says. “I have to go looking for Keith.”

Lance and Hunk share a look. “Ohhh,” they say in unison. “Of course, Captain. You go look… for Keith.” Lance winks at him. Shiro doesn’t have the time or mental capacity to deal with him, so he just gives him his most serious no bullshit look before walking away towards the barracks.

The closer he gets to the barracks, the bigger his inner trepidation gets. Something is seriously wrong. Keith should be with Lotor, but instead he is in the barracks? He doesn’t seem like the guy who likes to hang out with his fellow soldiers, always appearing closed off. A lone wolf.

A duo of soldiers passes him just as he turns the corner and he catches a couple of words “so nice of Lotor” and “made him whimper”, and Shiro fastens his pace. He bursts into the common room of the barracks. The room is loud, people yelling and laughing outrageously. At the back of the room there is a crowd and Shiro knows he needs to go there to find his answers. It takes effort to squeeze between the big Galra soldiers standing in a circle and when he finally makes it to the front, he freezes in place, his ears buzzing, his blood boiling.

Keith is thrown over a table and a huge guy is pounding into him from behind with so much force it rocks Keith over the table. The crowd is urging the guy on, yelling “I’m next, I’m next” and telling him to hurt “the fuckslave”. Keith’s eyes are squeezed shut where his face is pressed against the rough wood, the guy fucking him holding him down by the neck. Keith’s thighs are covered in come and Shiro is frozen in place and he can’t do anything, just watch as a too big cock forces its way into Keith’s reddened hole over and over again, drawing hurt sounds from the man.

Shiro doesn’t know how it happens, but the next second he is on the guy and he is pummeling away at him. He screams as he gives his everything, firing away with fiery fists and the next second he is suspended in the air, held up by four or five guys, still trying to hurt the guy.

The guy on the floor is bleeding, and staring up at him with a hateful look. Shiro spits in his face, now wholly incapacitated by the Galra soldiers.

“I hope the whore was worth it,” the guy says, standing up slowly, his cock still hard between his massive thighs. “Because these are the last breaths you’re taking.” The soldiers impossibly tighten their grip on him. Shiro and the guy approaching are the new center of attention.

“I’ll kill you,” Shiro hisses, teeth clenched.

The guy cackles, swiping at his bleeding lip with the back of his hand. “You can try.” He comes closer, taking his time. The guys around them are edging him on.

“Stop!” someone yells when the guy lands the first punch. “Stop! Stop! Stop!” With each punch. Shiro breathes through the pain, but his adrenaline keeps the actual feel of it a low annoyance. He realizes it’s Keith yelling. He realizes Keith is pushing between him and that guy. That guy who raped him, and tries to hold him back. “Stop, Sendak! Lotor will have your head if you kill him!” he shouts up in his face. He’s trembling. Shiro’s eyes are fixed on his bare shoulders. There are red marks all over him and Shiro’s rage returns to unmaintainable levels, making him struggle against the soldiers' grip.

Sendak laughs darkly. “Some Altean? Lotor couldn’t care less.”

“He is important to the Altean princess. He is her right hand. If you kill him, she won’t marry Lotor. And Lotor will have you cut in half!”

That stops Sendak in his tracks. He eyes Shiro over Keith’s shoulder. “That’s Shirogane?”

“It’s him!”

Sendak considers this. He squares his shoulders. “That’s unfortunate.”

“Let him go,” Keith demands. “I’ll… stay. You can end what you were… and I won’t. And he won’t. No one will speak a word of this!”

“Keith!” Shiro says then, alarmed. This is not an option at all. “What are you--”

“Shut up, Shiro,” Keith hisses at him. “Why are you here? Fuck. You need to go.” Keith swallows. “Let him go,” he addresses the soldiers holding Shiro. They look at Sendak and Sendak nods. They let Shiro fall to the floor.

“I won’t leave without you,” Shiro says, picking himself up. 

“Go.”

“I won’t. Keith, you are coming with me.”

“You know nothing, Shiro! Go! Now!” There is a bright burning fury in Keith eyes as he says this. "Leave."

Shiro shakes his head. He reaches out, but Keith pulls back. 

“Please,” Keith says then. “I’ll explain later. I… don’t do anything, okay? We’ll meet up, later. I’ll explain. Now please, go. Shiro.”

Sendak grips Keith by his upper arm and pulls him off his feet. “My men will make him go away, boy,” he grumbles. “Now, we were interrupted…” He throws Keith back onto the table, now on his back, and forces his legs apart with his huge, disgusting paws. Shiro watches, sick to his stomach, before he is picked up again and thrown outside, a few kicks to his kidney and a couple of warning words leaving him out alone in the cold night air. He can’t believe that’s what happened. That’s how it went. He can’t believe Keith stayed there. What is happening?

He groans, and manages to move onto his back, looking up at the dark sky. Inside, the yelling starts back up again. Shiro makes himself listen. He can’t leave Keith. He can’t.

  
Lance finds him there. “Allura was worried when you didn’t come back,” he explains as he pulls Shiro up to sit. “What’s up here? What’s--”

“Lance, I-- I can’t.”

“You can’t what? Come on, big guy. Let’s--” Lance grunts, pulling Shiro’s arm over his shoulder and trying to make him stand up. “Go back inside,” he wheezes.

“I can’t leave,” Shiro says, pushing up with his thighs, Lance carrying half his weight with the movement. He looks over Lance’s shoulder at the door. The yelling stopped a while ago. Keith hasn’t turned up yet. He has no idea what to do.

Lance looks at him, a concerned line between his eyes. “Something spooked you. What is it?”

Shiro meets Lance’s eyes. He wants to speak, opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. Then he seems him. Keith, dressed, walking out of the barracks. He stops in his tracks when he sees Shiro, as if he hadn’t expected him to still be there.

“Keith,” he says, and Lance turns around.

Keith swallows and straightens up, grimacing with it. His gait is careful as he steps off the step of the entrance.

“You’re still here,” he says flatly.

Lance looks back and forth between them.

“We need to talk,” Shiro says. He pulls his arm off Lance’s shoulder. “Go,” he tells him, not leaving Keith out of his sight for a second.

“What am I supposed to tell Allura?” Lance whines, but Shiro is already meeting Keith half way, Lance forgotten. Keith looks up at him, then he notions to the side with his chin. Shiro follows him, slowly. Keith is hurt, but he doesn’t want to show it, walking slowly and suppressing a grimace with each step.

Keith leads him to his own room inside the castle. Inside, the woman sits. She comes running to the door when Keith opens it, but stops in her tracks when she sees Keith, and Shiro following him. She looks back and forth between them. “Axca,” Keith says, sounding exhausted. “This is Shiro.”

Shiro closes the door behind him and watches as Keith, now inside his own four walls, stumbles the rest of the way to a seat by a table. Axca looks at him, her face full of concern. “This can’t go on,” she says.

“Not now, Axca.” Keith sounds exhausted.

“What’s he doing here?”

“He wants answers.”

“You don’t owe him anything. You don’t owe anyone anything!” Axca is upset, her eyes wet. Shiro realizes she knows what happened.

“Axca, can you run me a bath, please.” Keith sounds tired, but gentle. Shiro doesn’t know how he manages it. “Leave us alone. He’ll be gone in a minute.”

Axca eyes Shiro suspiciously. She goes over to press a kiss to Keith’s forehead, which he shies away from. “Don’t. I’m disgusting,” he says quietly.

“Shut up, you are not.” She leaves to the adjoining room, leaving them alone.

Silence spreads. Keith doesn’t meet Shiro’s eyes, even though they bore a hole into the side of his head.

“Let’s make this quick.” Keith says finally. “This is none of your business, and you will keep silent about this and keep out of it, too. I can’t make you unsee, but at least, if you pretended… that would make it easier. Pretend you didn’t see, okay, Shiro?” He rolls his head slowly to meet Shiro’s eyes.

“I want to help,” Shiro days. That’s the one thing he is sure of.

“You can’t.”

“Why? What have you gotten yourself into?”

“Maybe I like it! Maybe I like being fucked by a whole group of big, burly men, Shiro.”

“You deserve better than this.”

Keith whimpers.

“Let me help.”

“You can help by leaving. By doing what I asked you to do.”

“I can’t just--”

“I’m tired. Do what you think you need to do. I can’t stop you.” He pushes himself up with his hands on the table in front of him, grimacing with pain. “Leave, Shiro. Don’t make me say “please” again.”

Shiro leaves.

  
Shiro doesn’t tell anyone, and he lets out a breath of relief each time he sees Keith following around Lotor. He considers telling Lotor about what is happening to Keith, but if his personal soldiers can be so cruel, what cruelty may hide in the prince himself?

He runs across Sendak one time and barely manages to stay put instead of attacking him. If Keith hadn’t been in the same room, he would not have been able to guarantee for anything.

His mind rattles. He tries to talk to Keith again and again but gets nothing out of him. When Keith catches Shiro approach Axca, he threatens him so harshly, Shiro doesn’t dare approach the woman again afterwards.

He feels helpless and can’t sleep until the day Allura announces all of them will go back to Altea, taking Lotor and Keith with them. None of the soldiers in the barracks are part of Lotor’s envoy as they make their way back to Altea, and for the first time in weeks Shiro can relax an infinitesimal amount. Keith ignores him the best he can, but knowing he is out of the range of Sendak and his squad calms Shiro. He resolves to talk to Keith and find out what lead to Keith’s situation and how to help him out of it.

Allura notices his absentminded-ness, but he can’t tell her anything. He can’t tell anyone anything.

When they are back in Altea, Keith seeks him out one day.

“Lotor will ask her to marry him,” is how he greets him at Shiro’s door. He pushes his way in. “In the next week. You have to-- She can’t marry him.”

“Why?”

“Lotor. He-- he will hurt her. You have to stop this.”

“How? She doesn’t listen to me. How will he hurt her?”

“I’ve already said too much. Just… Shiro. She deserves better than this.”

“You deserve better.”

“Don’t make this about me.”

“When are we going to talk about this?”

“Never. Shiro, I told you. Stay out of it.”

“Why did you let them do that to you?”

“I’m a harlot. I enjoy it.”

“No. I saw you. They hurt you.”

“I like the pain of it. I like being fucked.” Keith lifts his chin. “I love it when it hurts. I know you Alteans are prudes, and you don’t allow for it. But you don’t know what you’re missing, Shiro. Getting a good cock in you.”

“You won’t push me away with crude words like this, don’t even try.”

“Sometimes they fuck me so long and hard, I can’t walk for days. Men fucking, it’s violence, Shiro. It’s normal. You don’t have to concern yourself with that.”

“No, it isn’t like that. It doesn’t have to be.”

Keith laughs. It doesn’t sound like amusement, more like incredulity. “I come. I come over and over again. They don’t even touch my cock for that.”

“Doesn’t mean you like it.”

“No?”

“No. It’s… you can come but not like it. Why are you trying to make me think you enjoy it? I saw you. I saw how you looked. You weren’t enjoying it. They-- they raped you.”

“Fuck you. Don’t use that word for what I do voluntarily.”

“But why?”

“Maybe I deserve it. I’m twisted, Shiro.”

“You’re honorable. You’re the best fighter I’ve ever known. You’re not twisted.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I know you enough.”

Keith’s mouth snaps shut. He swallows and shakes his head. “Just, don’t let Allura marry him. Your duty is to protect her. So do your job, Shiro.” He makes his way to the door, walking past Shiro.

“Keith, please. Let me help you.”

The door falls closed behind Keith.

  
Lotor proposes to Allura the following week and Allura says yes. Shiro tells her to be cautious and wait, but she won’t listen to him.

Keith looks at him in disappointment each time they are in a room together while the wedding is planned. When Shiro doesn’t warm up to Lotor, Allura insists he go hunting with Lotor and his personal guard. Lance and his other loyal soldiers stay back to protect the princess and Shiro, Keith, Lotor and his men make their way to the hunting castle a day’s ride away.

It’s a small castle so the rooms are small, have thin walls and are side by side. Shiro’s is next to Keith’s, a door connecting it. But they don’t use it. They don’t even interact much. Shiro doesn’t really enjoy Lotor’s company, or that of his men, but hunting doesn’t require much conversation, and so the days are full of uncomfortable silences and his evenings are spent alone in his room. He lies awake a lot, considering to open the door and ask Keith is he wants to have a pint of beer together. He just wants some normalcy between them back. If it means Shiro has to pretend he didn’t witness what he did, then he can do that. Keith deserves to be treated like a human and Shiro needs to get over himself. He makes a decision and gets up, shuffling to the door. He lifts his hand, about to knock, when he hears voices in the next room. The words are muffled and Shiro can’t make them out. When Keith has a visitor, he will have to wait for another night to go through with his plan.

He goes back to bad, lying awake, wondering who is Keith’s visitor, when the sounds start up. First it sounds like a squealing door, but then… Shiro’s chest seizes. The sounds, he’s heard them before. It’s Keith. It’s-- but Sendak is not here, nor are his men. It can’t be. It--

Shiro jumps out of bed, about to rip the door open, when he hears it. Lotor. That’s Lotor’s voice. Followed by Keith’s whimpers. There is a hitting sound, another. A whimper, Lotor’s voice again. Lotor’s laughter.

Shiro is frozen in place. He wants to open that door, but can he? It’s Allura’s fiancé. He can’t believe Lotor and Keith… but this is probably why Keith warned Shiro not to let Lotor marry his princess.

Then Keith cries out in pain. Shiro has never heard that sound come out of Keith’s mouth except that one time he got stabbed in a fight. Shiro’s limbs decide before his head and he carefully slides the door open and looks around the corner. What he sees is incomprehensible. He expected Lotor to be fucking Keith, but instead Lotor is sitting in a chair, his eyes fixated on Keith on the bed. He’s watching as Keith fucks himself with something. “Yes, take it. Come on, you’ve taken bigger, you slut.”

“Lotor,” Keith whimpers. “I can’t--”

“Do I have to come over there and do it myself?” Lotor says in a condescending voice. “I’ve pushed bigger things inside of you. Remember the good time we had with that hunting horn? What a beast. And you had it inside you, almost all the way. Remember?”

Keith squeezes his eyes shut. His hand grips harder between his legs, and Shiro can just make out something stonelike. Shiro’s eyes widen. He had seen Lotor take on one of his men at chess earlier in the day. They were playing with chess pieces, made from stone, almost as big as their hands. Keith grunts.

“I’m getting impatient, Keith. Do I have to do everything myself?” Lotor stands and kneels on the bed, pressing Keith’s legs apart and swatting his hand away.

“Damn, boy. When did you become so tight? Been some time since Sendak plowed you? Maybe I have to invite him to Altea soon, hm? Wouldn’t you enjoy that?”

Shiro is shocked to hear the words come out of Lotor’s mouth. He hadn’t imagined that he could have known. That he could… be the perpetrator even? A hurt sound falls from Keith’s eyes when Lotor takes a hold of the piece between his legs and with his biceps bulging, pushes. Keith’s eyes fly open and they meet Shiro’s, where he stands inside the darkened doorway. Keith squeezes his eyes shut and opens them again, sending Shiro a pleading look, shaking his head, almost imperceptively. “Leave,” he mouths, before another pained grunt follows, joined by Lotor’s laughter. “It’s almost all the way in, Keith. Simply delightful. What do I fuck you with next? You are such a harlot, taking this so well.” Shiro sees a tear roll down from Keith’s closed eyes. “It wouldn’t be as much fun to do this to your sister,” Lotor says, taking Keith in his hand. “You were absolutely right. Let’s see if I can make you come with this huge thing stuck up inside of you, hm?”

Shiro swallows and leaves before Lotor notices him, too.

  
So now Shiro finally knows why Keith won’t let him help. Axca is not his wife, she’s his sister. And she got threatened, so Keith offered up himself instead. Shiro’s heart breaks for him. No one should have to go through something like that. Shiro resolves to come up with a plan. To stop Allura from marrying that beast, to save Axca and Keith. Now that he finally can come up with an action plan, he feels better, and can deal better with the images of Keith being hurt being branded onto the back of his eyes.

The next day, Shiro seeks Keith out in his room. Keith says nothing, and neither does Shiro. Instead, Shiro approaches Keith slowly. Keith knots up more with each step Shiro takes closer to him. Finally, he comes to a stand in front of Keith. “You don’t deserve to be treated like that,” he says and slowly lifts his arms, giving Keith time to intercept him, before he envelops him in his embrace. Keith is a stiff unmovable thing in his arms. Shiro holds him, breathing slowly, until Keith gives up and just falls into his body, shuddering all over.  
  
The first thing he does back in Altea is introduce Keith to Lance, Hunk, James and Pidge. He takes James and Pidge to the side and tells him they have a rescue mission while Hunk’s natural paternal instincts make him hover over Keith and make him eat while Lance eyes the guy suspiciously. Once Keith has left, Shiro takes Lance out for a pint of beer and tells him he has to make his move on Allura now or never. Lance turns white. “You think I have a chance?”

“Sure,” Shiro says, although he is not sure. But he needs Allura to be distracted away from Lotor, something to loosen her unshakeable resolve to wed the prince. He hopes that Allura can return Lance’s feelings, and otherwise he hopes Lance can forgive him for using him in his plan.

He tells Hunk to make sure Keith is there for their dinners, and to integrate him into their core as much as possible in very little time.

Shiro has a reputation and not for nothing. He is not Allura’s bodyguard for nothing. He is an ace fighter, and he is smart. He is level-headed most of the time. He has a plan forming in his mind and puts the pieces into place slowly.

He has a couple of months to fix everything.

Kidnapping Axca is a cloak and dagger kind of operation. He rides into Galra before sunbreak and has her on the back on her horse on their way back to Altea before the sun has even appeared more than halfway on the horizon. He is lucky that Axca was exactly where his spies told him she would be at that time.

He brings her to the house of lions and leaves her in Coran’s care and is back in his room before anyone notices he was gone. When a rider comes into the throne room to deliver Sendak’s message that Axca is missing, the color drains from Keith’s face.

“What did you do to her?” he accuses. He turns around to Lotor. “You promised!” he yells. Allura is taken aback, looking at Keith with shocked, wide eyes.

“Keith, calm yourself,” Lotor demands.

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know. And you will calm yourself or you will leave.” He laughs in Allura’s direction, dismissive and a bit embarrassed. But Lotor does not know Allura well enough. Already, the concern is showing on her face.

“What’s this about?” she asks.

“His sister is “missing.” He makes airquotes around the last word. He turns to Keith. “She is probably still in some soldier’s bed.”

“She would not!” Keith yells, as Allura reprimands Lotor, astonished.

“Sorry, my love,” Lotor says smoothly. He turns back to Keith. “We will, of course, do everything we can to find her, Kogane.”

“We can send a search troop,” Shiro offers.

Allura nods. “Yes, you and Keith should ride to Galra and find her.”

“That’s not necessary at all,” Lotor says.

“It’s necessary. You should go along as well, dear. See what you can do? Keith is your loyal servant, he now needs your loyalty.” Shiro bites his lip to not say anything in reaction to that.

Lotor looks at her and seems to realize she is not to be argued with. “Very well. But someone should stay here with you to protect you.”

Lance steps forward. “I will protect her with my life, my lord.” He bows deeply.

“Very well. Let’s get this over with.”

Keith and Shiro saddle their horses while Lotor’s men get ready next to them. He wishes he could tell Keith that his sister is safe. The concern on the men’s face is pulling at his heartstrings.

They ride hard, as hard as they can through the wooden area. When Shiro sees the huge stone on the side of the path, he directs the group towards the river bed nearby. They get off their horses to stretch their legs, eat something and let the horses graze. The wind rustles through the tree canopy nearby. An owl hoots.

It’s time. He gets up, Keith immediately at attention. He looks up at him, and follows Shiro with his eyes to where Lotor is sitting alongside his men in the shadows of some trees at the tree line.  

“Prince Lotor,” Shiro says. “I have to talk to you. Alone.” He looks at Lotor’s men. Lotor squints up at him, considering him. He dismisses his men with a movement of his chin.

“What can I help you with, Shiro?”

“I need to know, your Majesty, what your intentions towards my princess are.”

Lotor cackles. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“I’m not.”

“It’s not your place to question me.”

“Oh, I’m sure. However, Princess Allura cares much for me and more importantly, there is only truth between her and me. If I tell her something, she’ll believe me.” Shiro looks over his shoulder and meets Keith’s eyes. Keith’s glare on him is hard. He looks back at Lotor and Lotor puts the pieces together.

“I see,” he says. “So you’re twisted like him? Are you jealous, Shiro?”

“Jealous?”

“That I had him, but you won’t ever.”

“Had him?”

“What? You think I didn’t see you there the other night? Your expression was priceless, as I made him grunt in pain, pushing that stone piece inside of him. It was like the cherry on top. His pained grunts and then your face.”

“Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting him?”

“It’s fun. See, Shiro. Keith… he’s been with our family since he was a boy. Actually he belongs to me, did you know? My family bought him. Him and his sister. When they were younger we only had them working in the kitchens but later, when my soldiers first wanted to get at his sister, he offered himself instead. Isn’t that adorable? Now whenever I or Sendak --or whoever wants it, really-- takes him, we hurt him and we can be assured that his sister is hurting as well, seeing him come back all bruised up and missing a little bigger of his soul each time. It's delightful, knowing. So that’s why. Is your curiosity now saturated, Shiro? Do you want to know how often we take him? If he’s still tight enough for you, when you get to go at the sloppy seconds?”

A blade appears at Lotor’s neck and Lotor freezes. “I want to know something,” Allura says, stepping out of the woodwork. Shiro's plan worked out. Bless Lance for bringing Allura here, where Shiro needed her to be when he made Lotor talk. “How disgusting a human being do you have to be, to enjoy torturing a person like that?” She steps in front of him. “I can’t believe I never saw through you.”

Lotor’s men surround her and Shiro. Shiro draws his sword. Lance appears on Allura’s other side. If it comes to a fight, they can take them. Everyone participates in the stand off, and far off he sees Hunk and Pidge and James and all the others. He feels better about putting Allura into this situation immediately. But she needed to know who she was about to marry.

“Oh, darling,” Lotor says. “Come on, it’s not so bad. You can come next time, watch. Or even participate. You’ll see how much he actually enjoys i--” Allura cuts his throat, Lotor’s eyes widen as red blood sprays from his neck.

Lotor’s men fight but Shiro’s soldiers came prepared. They win, without losses.

Keith meets his eyes over the fallen Galra soldiers. “Where is my sister?” he asks.

“I’ll lead you to her.”

Allura doesn’t let him leave before telling him off loud and long for not making her see earlier, and before apologizing to Keith for everything she is not at fault at. She tells him he and his sister are more than welcome at her court, and Keith swallows. “We’ll see,” he says.

Shiro brings Keith’s horse and gets on his own. The ride to Coran’s is a couple of hours long. They don’t talk for at least two of them. Then Keith says, “I can’t believe he’s dead.”

“He is. You saw it.”

“You couldn’t just stay out of it,” he accuses. “Now everyone--” He cuts himself off, making a frustrated sound.

“No one knows. Only Allura and Lance, and they won’t tell anyone.”

Keith rides ahead. Shiro draws up next to him again.

“And even if everyone knew, you would have nothing to be ashamed of. This is not your fault, Keith.”

“You don’t know anything.”

Shiro grabs Keith’s arm and makes him halt. “I know everything I need to know. You let them hurt you to protect your sister. Everyone in that situation would have.”

“It went on for years.” Keith looks pained as he admits that. “You don’t you think we could have left? Maybe--”

Shiro cuts him off. “I don’t think it’s as easy as you make it out to be.”

“Why did you do all this? Why do you even care? Do you think I’ll now fuck you instead, out of gratefulness?!”

Shiro ignores the last part, knowing Keith is hurting, and vulnerable. “I like you, Keith. And it’s what my heart told me to do. And I’m… not sorry.”

Keith eyes him, and rides ahead. “My sister better be in good hands.”

“She is.”

  
Keith and Axca settle into the Altean court as well as could be expected after everything they went through. They both have major trust issues, but Pidge manages to crack Axca's shell a couple of months in and Shiro has not given up on making Keith a part of their inner circle.

The first time Lance threatens bodily harm on someone on behalf of Keith, and after Keith and Lance have fought it out between them that Keith is capable of protecting himself but that Lance is Keith’s friend and therefore he is allowed to kick anyone’s ass who threatens Keith in any way, Keith leaves himself a little bit more emotionally open to their little group.

Lance kisses Allura and Allura blushes adorably. As does Lance. Shiro pretends he hadn’t observed their little moment.

Two years later, Lance and Allura are married and expecting their first child. Keith, now Lance’s bodyguard, has gone through phases of grief and hurt and pain and he’s come out on the other side. He’s started and stopped not-so-secretly dating James. Shiro later finds out it was a friends with benefits thing. From Allura, nonetheless.

Allura makes some noise trying to get Shiro to date as well. Lance is a supportive friend and helps Allura set up blind dates that Shiro wants no part of. His heart is occupied. He doesn’t have any hope, but the heart wants what it wants. And what it wants is Keith.

Keith has never shown any interest in Shiro, and that is okay. Until. Until Shiro comes back to his room late at night and Keith is lying on his sheets, half naked and looking nervous.

Shiro freezes in the doorway.

“Close the door,” Keith says, his voice trembling.

Shiro does. “What is this?”

“I know you want me, Shiro. Have me.”

Shiro swallows. Keith looks gorgeous, his body a sight to behold. The way he bites his lip, and the way his abs contract, like a wet dream.

“It doesn’t matter what I want, Keith.” Shiro says. He takes a deep breath and starts going through his nightly routine. He hangs up his sword belt and pulls his tunic over his head. He shuffles out of his shoes. “Dress yourself,” he tells Keith when he doesn’t make a move to leave.

“I’ve seen the way you look at me, Shiro. You want me.”

“I won't lie to you about that. But not like this.”

“Like what? The way all these men had me? Sorry, but I can’t undo their stench on me.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t say that shit, Keith. This is not what I meant.”

“You’ll have to take me even though you know they were there first.”

“I won’t do any such thing. But not because I don’t want to.”

“Have me. I’m here.”

“Keith, stop.”

Keith’s breathing picks up at Shiro's open refusal. “Shiro, I’m yours. Come on.” He opens his legs wider.

Shiro picks up Keith’s clothes where they lie on a stool near the bed. He brings them over to Keith and lays them next to him, sitting down on the bed.

“You’re beautiful,” he says, and Keith’s breath hitches. “But I won’t have anyone who doesn’t want me back.”

“What if I do?” Keith says quickly, taking a hold of Shiro’s hand and pressing it into the mattress. His voice shakes as he says it. “I do.”

“No, you don’t. Not right now, you don't.”

“Don’t tell me what I want!” Keith gets loud now and sits up. “You don’t know what I want,” he hisses, his eyes blazing.

“No, I don’t. But neither do you.”

“Shiro, just. Can’t you just fuck me? I need it, please.”

Shiro shakes his head. “What do you actually need?”

“What?” Keith looks taken aback at the question, the anger leaving his eyes. 

“I won’t fuck you, but I’ll do anything in my might to help you with what you are going through right now. Is it someone to talk? Someone to hold you? Someone to hold? Someone to fight? Tell me.” Shiro shuffles further onto the mattress, so close to Keith. He pulls the bedding up and drapes it around Keith’s shoulders.

Keith starts shaking at Shiro's gentle way with him. He hides his face, overwhelmed and confused. Shiro lifts his hand to bring Keith’s face back up again. “Don’t hide from me,” he says quietly.

Keith hand comes up to cover Shiro’s on his cheek. His eyes are dark and serious, and wide.

“Can I just have a kiss, then?” he asks, very quiet.

Shiro leans forward and presses his lips to Keith’s. It’s just pressure, warm soft lips against each other. Only for a moment. Keith pulls a quick breath inside of him and lets it flow back out over Shiro’s face.

“I want to not be fucked up,” Keith whispers. Shiro looks at him for a while, his thumb swiping back and forth over his cheek.  

“You aren’t. You’re beautiful.”

  


_The end_

**Author's Note:**

> If enough people like this and show so by kudos, comments etc, I'm amenable to write a sequel with sexy times.


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